(Just a note: When I say ranch, I mean something like the Solaceon daycare.)

It was an ordinary morning, with an ordinary routine. I, I being me, Hank Rigi, sat at a table with my Ralts, eating toast. Just jam, nothing special. I was about to go for a walk out to my father's ranch, to see how he was going, when my mobile rang. I answered with a brief, 'Who's there?'

'This is the Hospital.'

'Hospital? Did I not pay my fee or something?'

'Actually, it's about your father.' My smile hit the floor.

'Shit! What happened to him?'

'He broke his leg. He called for help, and the first we saw of him he had a Machamp clearing away a fallen tree, a Gardevoir crying beside him and a pack of Mightyena sitting like bodyguards.'

'Crap, crap, crap! Is he alright? Stupid question, what's wrong with him?'

'Sadly, I haven't been told. Looked like a leg injury, though. He's at the hospital. Are you in town?'

'Yeah. I'm just down the road.'

'Ok, I suggest coming in to check up on him. And calm that Gardevoir, before she floods us.'

'I'll be there in a few minutes.'

With a dull beep, I hung up the phone and pocketed it. It could have been worse, I suppose. I turned to my partner, Hol, the Ralts. 'Hol, dad's in hospital. I need to go check on him. You coming?' He nodded briefly before flying to my side, my hat floating behind him in a cloak of pink energy. I grabbed it and put it on, the wide brim shading my eyes even inside. 'Thanks. Let's go.'

'Calm down, Miri! He's going to be okay!' I told the weeping Gardevoir, holding her tight. I knew the mental connection she shared with my father, and knew she must have felt the pain the moment it hit. She was probably reliving it in her head, again and again, it would have had to been the worst feeling imaginable. She stopped sobbing, at least, which was a relief. Sitting next to me, was Hol, holding his mother Miri's hand. We never had found his father, and she'd never told us. But this wasn't the time. I kept her wrapped around me, her body wracking every now and then as a sob escaped her. She'd almost stopped crying, it seemed.

Behind us, in another room, my father was undergoing surgery. He'd broken his right leg horrendously, and smashed his left ankle badly as well. Both would fix, over time, but it would be a long time before he could do the physical work on the ranch again. That would kill him. Not that he couldn't do it, but that no-one would.

But I'd already made that decision – I would take over the duties on the ranch. He had taught me everything, after all, from feeding times, how to settle disputes, even taught me how to wrestle an Machoke. That was a good day.

He'd still not like not being able to help, but my brain was ticking overtime already. He could work the desk, I thought. That way, he would still be an important factor in the ranch's working while not having to exert himself at all. I felt a tickling in the back of my mind for a second or to, then Miri pulled her head back to look at me, smiling weakly. 'You're so good to your father. He'll love that idea. But I know what your planning, and he won't accept you for no payment. That's not like him. He'll pay you, like it or not.'

'I know, Miri. But I don't need money, or not much, anyway. Just enough for food. Anything else I'll just put back into the ranch.'

'I might have some ideas about that, actually. But that can be discussed later. I sense the doctors are almost finished.'

She was right. Ten minutes later, the nurses wheeled him from the theatre room, into a private room where he would be left to sleep. After a brief discussion with the nurse, Miri went in there with him, and closed the door. I knew I should leave him to sleep. At least, with Miri by his side, I could be sure he would have good dreams. She'd tap into his head and make sure of it. I approached a nurse and asked her how he was.

'He'll be fine. He'll heal up, but it'll take a year, at least. And that's not including the time he'll take to start walking again. He's lucky, though. A lot of ranchers are in their fifties, he's in his forties. He has a bit more fight left in him.'

'He'll always have fight in him. Probably got in a fight with the tree so it fell on him.'

My humour, however crappy, always helped cheer me up when I was in a bad mood. Although not as effective now, it still helped. So, Hol walking alongside me, I started walking down the sparsely housed road to my apartment.

I didn't sleep well, but I did get a few hours at least. Come morning, I went to check on him again. I walked in to find him awake, and talking to Miri. An untouched plate of food sat off to the side. 'There you are son! About time your showed!'

'Good to see you too dad. How you feeling?'

'Good enough to live, not good enough to work. Sorry for cutting straight to business, but Miri told me you would take over the ranch for me?'

'I said that, yes. And I meant it.'

'And I still get a job, too. You thought from every angle, just like you always do.' His face darkened a little. 'Then she informed me you wanted minimum wage. I'll pay you for the work, and the work deserves a lot more than minimum wage! And no buts about it!'

His face lightened again, a smile breaking. 'But I know my son, and I know you won't just take money you won't lose. I still won't pay you minimum, but I've thought of other ways to reward you for the work. Or, Miri has, anyway.'

'And what would they be?'

'The old feed shed, the one that used to be a house. It has full plumbing and power, right?'

'Yes, it does.'

'Then move in there. No rent, and a lot bigger than your dingy apartment. And, pokemon eggs. If their trainer's don't want them, you can have it if you like. And any pokechow you need for your team comes out of the ranch's supplies. Sound good?'

I was astonished, this was an amazing offer! 'You've got yourself a deal!'

Miri's voice entered my head, soft and motherly. 'Thank you, Hank. We are both truly thankful.'

'Don't take my words from my mouth! Just 'cause me legs don't work doesn't mean my mouth doesn't either!' Said my dad sarcastically.

'Now, one last thing. There's a lot of work there. Rela found someone who made her happy in another trainers team, so I let him take her.' I knew Rela, a loyal Machamp who helped around the ranch. Her trainer had never come for her, so like a few others on the ranch, she stuck around and helped out for a living. 'I was planning to employ someone else as well, and now, since your doing all the work, you got any friends around town that need some work? If they need a bunk, the place you can have is pretty big.'

'I know just who to get. Good bloke, great with pokemon, bit shy around people though. He'll jump at the chance for work, especially around pokemon and with me, without much input from other people.'

'Sounds great. Tell him I'll pay him a good rate. And if your fine with it, he can move into the shed as well.'

'Thanks so much dad.'

'Not a problem. Now scram, the nurse is here to wash me up.'

Miri's physic voice bumped into everyone in the room's head, with a possessive edge to it. 'I'll be cleaning him, thank you very much.' The nurse shrugged and handed her the sponge and soap. 'Time to leave, boyo. Don't need you scarred for life!' He chuckled as Miri pulled the shirt off his head.

Ralts by my side, I soon reached my apartment. I knew I had to get out to the ranch within an hour, so I could get the work done as quick as possible, but I needed to work some stuff out first. I picked up the phone and started making calls. First a moving company, to organise moving all my stuff out to the ranch's old shed. Then I called my up my friend that I mentioned earlier.

'Dalla residence, how can I help you?'

'Tom, it's Hank.'

'Hank, how's it going?'

'Not so good. Dad's in hospital, and the ranch won't run its self.'

'True. Guessing your going to work there?'

'Yeah. But I can't do it by my self, so I was wondering...'

'Hank. Are you offering me a job, where I work with no one by my best friend and a mega-ton of pokemon?'

'Yeah, pretty much. My dad will be working the desk though.'

'That's fine with me. And i'm in. This is practically my dream job.'

'Good to hear it Tom. You busy today?'

'Nope. You want me to start today?'

'Yeah. Can you manage that?'

'I'll be there in fifteen minutes.'

'Seeya there.'

I hung up the phone and called out to Ralts. 'Hey, buddy! Let's get to the ranch!'

'Ral!' I grabbed him, swinging him up onto my shoulders where he swung up to sit on my head. A slight pink glow signified he wasn't going unless he wanted to. I went outside and jumped onto my bike, swerving out into the street and speeding off down the road. It was a ten minute ride if you pushed hard, which I did, wanting to see how things were holding out.

When I go there, I saw Tom walking along the nearest fenceline, a large, 10KG bag of pokechow on his shoulder. He saw me as he walked past, causing him to stop and look over to me. 'I saw some of the feed troughs were empty so I got to work. Hope you don't mind?'

'Not at all Tom. In fact, wait up and I'll grab a bag too!'

I opened the gate closest to me, then went to the nearby feed shed. I took a bag of pokechow, hauled it onto my shoulder, and went out to Tom. He'd changed the shoulder he had the bag on, but hadn't moved. 'The trough near the big Oran tree needs filling, as does the one near the lake. You want to take the lake?' He suggested.

'Sounds like a good idea. Let's roll.' We split, walking in our separate directions. The walk was another fifteen minutes, and when I got there I found a pack of Arcanine and their Growlithe pups resting under the shade of a big Oak tree. One was down by the river, drinking the midday heat away. The all looked up as I approached. One, the biggest of them, rose and prowled over. I guessed he was the pack alpha.

He came up to me, then sat in front of my feet. His nostrils flared as he breathed in my scent. Then he looked higher than me, to Ralts, still sitting on my head.

'Arc.'

'Ra?'

'Nine.'

'Ral.' With that, Ralts jumped off my head, landing on the big red dogs back.' He pointed to his eye, then made a circular gesture with his hand. 'Want to have a look around?' I asked. He nodded earnestly. 'Fair enough. I expect you will find me when your done.'

'Ra!'

With Ralts securely on his pack, the Arcanine turned and stalked off past the lake. As he passed the pack, two other's rose and went with him. When I was only a few years old, the Arcanine would take me for rides around the ranch, then let me play with the newborn Growlithe. I knew he was in no danger.

(Ralts POV. One of the few segments I will do this for.)

'So, little Ralts, you're sure he cannot understand us?'

'Of course, Arcanine. Why do you think I had to use my modified sign language.'

'I saw that.' He turned to look around the forest. 'All right, you lot, I can smell 'ya! Come out here!'

'You always did have the best nose.' Came a voice from the left.

'Oh come on, I washed and everything!' This time from the right.

'Shut up you two. We're here on important business, alright?' This time the voice came from above.

From the left, a Gardevior came from the trees. A Lopunny emerged from the right, and swinging from the rooftops came an Infernape. 'So he's here?' Questioned the Infernape.

'Just saw him at the lake.' Replied Arcanine.

'Who's the cutie on your back?' Asked the Gardevior.

Ralts spoke this time, 'I'm Hol, Hank's partner. Why did you want to speak to me?'

'We want to know something.' Said the Infernape. 'Is he a virgin?'

'No. I've felt him at least four times. Some may have been when I was out for walks. Humans don't understand the amount of energy sex puts out, do they?'

'No, the certainly don't.' Chuckled the Gardevior. 'Now here's the big question. Has he ever fucked a pokemon?'

'No. I looked on his computer to, not even a search referencing poke-porn.'

'Damn. This will be hard then. I have a plan though.' Said the Infernape. 'Gardevior, you can manipulate the locks in the doors, right?'

'Yep.'

'Good. I want you to open the doors, let Lopunny in. Lopunny, I need a seduction, full on. Convert him to fucking us. You up for it?'

'This is gonna be fun! So much fun!'

'I'll take that as a yes. Ralts, when is he moving in?'

'Today, I believe. Try the run down bedroom in the old shed.'

'Good. You know what to do girls. Ralts, meet me at the Oran tree later. I have a little aphrodisiac for you to slip into his food.'

'Can do.'